Approximation Algorithms for Scheduling with Reservations

Abstract

We study the problem of scheduling n independent jobs on a system of m identical parallel machines in the presence of reservations. This constraint is practically important; for various reasons, some machines are not available during specified time intervals. The objective is to minimize the makespan. This problem is inapproximable in the general case unless P = NP which motivates the study of suitable restrictions. We use an approach based on algorithms for multiple subset sum problems; our technique yields a polynomial time approximation scheme (PTAS) which is best possible in the sense that the problem does not admit an FPTAS unless P = NP. The PTAS presented here is the first one for the problem under consideration; so far, not even for special cases approximation schemes have been proposed. We also derive a low cost algorithm with a constant approximation ratio and discuss additional FPTASes for special cases and complexity results.